Seeing Clearly
by Morning Lullabies
Summary: He could not remember a time when the world around him wasn't blurry. Kyouya/Haruhi


_And I feel like walkin' the world (like walkin' the world)  
__You can hear she's a beautiful girl (she's a beautiful girl)  
__Makes you feel warmer  
__When you're trying to remember what you heard  
__She likes to leave you hanging on her word  
Suddenly I see: This is what I want to be  
Suddenly I see: Why the hell it means so much to me  
Suddenly I see: This is what I want to be  
__Suddenly I see: Why the hell it means so much to me__  
_**"Suddenly I See" **(KT Tunstall)

**A/N:** **REWRITE REWRITE REWRITE!! ARGH!!** Forgive my ignorance! I love Kyouya and Haruhi! Actually, I just love Kyouya (I have a megane complex.) I just think that the guy that knows just about everything should always be with the girl who is a little naïve despite her book smarts. It's very sweet and cute and kind of an obsession of mine. . Which leads me to write this little drabble/one shot. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran HSHC. It belongs to Bisco Hatori. The lyrics belong to KT Tunstall.

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Kyouya had worn glasses for as long as he could remember. Okay, that was a lie. He'd worn glasses since he was about six or seven, but in his short life, that was a long time. His earliest memories were of sitting in that chair with the optometrist asking him, "First or second?" and his answers were always "Second." as his eyes grew weaker every year.

He found it so ironic that he had always seen straight through people, (their schemes and plots to take his family down) yet he could not see the world clearly through his own eyes. For the longest time he'd resented the fact that he needed help to see. Needing help was something that was hard for him to admit to. Even through the glass lenses the world was never clear. The doctors had said that as long as he was attached to his laptop and books, it never would be.

Though he would like to keep his eyesight as long as possible, he would never give up his work. It meant far too much to him. It meant a place as the head of the Ootori family and the approval of his father. It was the only chance he had to prove himself to his father and he was not about to let that go for health. Besides, it was a mark of being an Ootori, as was the dark hair that he had inherited from his father. His oldest brother wore glasses and his sister wore contact lenses. His second brother wasn't as nearsighted as the rest of them, but he wore them at times, nonetheless.

He would never see the world the same way as everyone else. At least, that's what he made himself believe. For years he watched the world through the eyes of the third son of an ambitious father, and saw the world as such. The world was always out to bring him down and make his life harder and keep him from the goal he wanted to achieve. He trusted no one, not even Tamaki Suou, his best friend. He was always so sure that his life would never have an ounce of normality in it. He was tall, with the distinguishing dark hair and glasses that earned him attention wherever he went. His life was under constant scrutiny by every person in the elite society he'd been born to. _That_ was something he saw clearly.

He knew every person he saw through those small, light-weight pieces of glass watched him just as closely as he watched them. They all wanted to be a part of his life and gain a small slice of his fortune, which everyone knew he would one day inherit, despite the fact that his father made it out to be otherwise. Everyone was like that, and for him it would never be any different. That was, it would have been if _she _hadn't walked in.

Haruhi Fujioka, the commoner, had twisted his perception of people around, and blurred the only 'perfect' vision he had. She had snarled his thought process with her gentle naivety and acceptance of him without any knowledge of what he was to become. To him that meant the world, because it meant that she couldn't want a piece of his fortune or to wedge her way into his 'fabulous' life just to spy or take what wasn't hers by force. She baffled him, to say the least.

Though he had shown her his true self that day at the commoners' department store, she had still accepted him. Most people left him when they saw what a jerk he could be. The son of an Ootori must always be polite. That's always what his father told him. Always. She didn't think so, however. She thought he should be himself, and that he didn't always need to be cold and calculating, watching the world through a wall of glass. She had said all of this with a simple question. She had questioned his real intentions behind befriending the boys in the Host Club, and her, and with that question his reality had come crashing down and the vision he had created of the world.

That one time, when everything he saw was blurred, was a shock and a pleasure. He had never expected to become so befuddled by a simple question. It had not been planned for. Well, come to think of it, nothing Haruhi did had been planned for.

Traipsing in and breaking that vase…

Becoming a host…

Making him fall in love with her…

The last was the least expected. It always was. The way she saw through the wall he had built between himself and others was so… beautiful. There were times when she was naïve but it made her all the more endearing. He really could not help himself and realized that he also could not help finding pleasure in confusion, being helpless and most of all the unknown thoughts that existed behind her easy smile.

Her every move enchanted him. She was so different. That was obvious, but he could never perceive the extent of it. Some days she would just roll her eyes and others she would be truly shocked at the extravagance they had the luxury of. He liked to watch her. He told himself it was so he could understand commoners, (for that was who he would be catering to, when he took over the company) but in reality? He was drawn to her, like a man dying of thirst in the desert is drawn to his delusions of water. In the same way, Kyouya believed that this girl would be the death of him. He would drink her in as that deluded man drank in the sand, and she would never give back, because she was playing host and that meant portraying her as a boy; A single, _straight_ boy. Damn it.

Oh, well. Watching her was enough.

In his mind, he played it out. He was nearly as bad as Tamaki, except where Tamaki preferred mystery, Kyouya saw straight through her, and knew her every thought, so that he could cater to her every whim before she voiced it to him. It was his escape from reality, where she nearly always surprised him with just the subtlest movement; like she did now.

Somehow, Haruhi had placed herself between Huni and another third year who found it was fun to insult him because of his height. Mori had gone off to get Huni cake and a Yakuza leader had come over to 'defend' Reiko's honor.

_Typical_, he thought to himself as he watched this scene play out with the same indifference he gave everything else. The Yakuza always were starting some fight or another, then turned tail and ran. Cowards, the lot of them. Besides that, Huni had yet to show any feelings to Reiko other than like.

Kyouya left his musings just long enough to see that the gang leader's fist was headed straight for Haruhi's face.

It was the fastest he had moved in his entire life, and the results hurt like hell. He could feel the blood dripping down his face, and several sharp bits were stabbing him. As he looked up to Haruhi, he saw the fuzzy outline of her face and realized that his glasses were no longer existent. He squinted. Blood dripped into his left eye, but he didn't care. He could see she wasn't physically harmed, but she seemed to have gone into shock. Her abnormally large eyes were wide and she was staring at him as if he'd lost her mind.

Struggling to his feet, Kyouya asked, "Haruhi-kohai, are you okay?" The twins held him up by his arms, as he slid on the smooth floor of the hallway.

"Ootori-senpai! I should be asking you that question! Not the other way around!" She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and reached up to wipe the blood off of his face. As her hand came into contact with the area around his eyes, he grimaced and pulled away. So that's why if felt as if someone were stabbing him in the face; there was glass embedded in it.

"Maybe I should go to the infirmary?" He didn't mean to make it a question, but that's how it came out.

"Oh! Yes, of course you should!" Haruhi grabbed his hand and ran, dragging the poor, blind Kyouya behind her. Since Kyouya could not see, and Haruhi did not care, they were both oblivious to the stares that followed them to the school's nurse's office. Kyouya heard the whispers, but they couldn't be discerned without seeing the faces, so he just ignored them, believing them to be about the cuts on his face.

Haruhi half-dragged him through the swinging door of the infirmary and pushed him onto a cot, then looked impatiently around for the nurse.

"Where is she?" Haruhi hissed through clinched teeth. Kyouya raised an eyebrow. He had no idea of course, but it was still interesting to listen to the annoyed note in her voice that only ever came out when talking to or about Tamaki. He smirked. A little one, but she caught it nonetheless, "Is there a problem, Ootori-senpai?"

He quickly ducked his head, and lifted it once more, cool and composed, "Not at all, Fujioka-san."

She huffed and threw herself upon the cot next to him, crossing her arms in anger under her breasts. (Not that Kyouya could see them; he just imagined that would be about where they were if he could.) It was curious. The absence of the nurse shouldn't annoy her so. She never really cared about anyone, and if she did, she didn't show it, so why him? He opened his mouth to ask her, but she chose that moment to vault from the bed toward the cabinets on the wall in front of them. Haruhi opened and closed them with reckless abandon, pulling out items.

"May I inquire as to what's running through that brain of yours, Fujioka-san?"

"I'm cleaning you up myself, Ootori-senpai, since Takashi-san seems to have taken the day off." She turned and walked to him, holding a round white thing and what looked to him like silver lines. As they came into better focus, he realized they were a cotton ball and tweezers.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Crap, was that panic in his voice? Kyouya tried to suppress it, but she was so close, and it made him nervous. It wasn't because he didn't believe she had no skill at healing, it was just he always got this way when she was around.

"Of course I do. My father slips on spilled drinks and breaks glass all the time at his bar."

"Oh…." He was out of arguments, so he let her do as she pleased, wincing when she plucked broken glass from his brow line and rubbing alcohol into it. It stung like a mother but he endured it. (It wasn't so hard, really. Haruhi _was_ touching him….) When she had placed the last bandage and tossed the trash in the waste basket, he reached out to grab her arm, "Thank you, Haruhi."

She stared at him, her mouth forming a little "o" as she tried to tug away. Why was his grip so tight? He couldn't touch her. No, he could, but it made her… uncomfortable. "Ootori-senpai, I do not believe that I have given you permission to be so familiar with me."

Haruhi was quite sure her face was flaming red, and her hands were shaking in fear. What had come over him? She had been Haruhi-kenpai and Fujioka-san since day one, but never just Haruhi. It was moving too fast.

"Then give me permission."

"What?"

"Give me permission to be familiar with you, Haruhi-kohai."

"No. Forgive me, Ootori-san." Wait! What was she thinking? She had dreamed and dreamed of being more than just his club-mate and a student she happened to know. So why was she screwing this up? _Haruhi! _What_ are you thinking?_ She wasn't thinking apparently, and Kyouya's face fell then turned into that expressionless mask, once again. No, it was too late, she had ruined it.

"Of course, Fujioka-sama; it will be as you wish." The coldness in his voice sliced like a knife, he knew, but he couldn't help it. It was his reaction to rejection. He didn't understand. All of the signs were there, but somehow it had backfired. She had shaken in his hand when he held her wrist, and her voice was regretful. What had he done wrong? He couldn't see what he had done and in the moment, realized how blind she had truly made him. Reasoning through it wasn't working. Everything said she should have said yes, but she hadn't.

"Ootori-senpai…" There was a world of hurt in her voice, but he cared not a bit. "Is this so important to you?"

He turned away as she tried to look into his eyes.

"Why?" She asked and once again, a simple question caused his view of the world to blur. There shouldn't have been kindness in her voice, only curiosity. There shouldn't have been compassion; not the way this had been going, anyway. "Answer me, Kyouya-senpai. Please?"

She had backed away. She was giving him space. Others would have just pushed and pushed, getting in his face, but she backed off.

"Haruhi-kohai, I love you." Where had that come from? Kyouya had not meant for that to escape. Oh, well, might as well take more hits so he could heal and go on.

"Oh… OH!" She squeaked it out in shock.

He turned and watched the blurred outline of her pace, and stop, and squeak out "OH!" some more.

"If you're not going to be more coherent than this, would you mind leaving me in my misery?" He muttered.

She laughed at his sudden sullenness, and lifted his face to hers. "That changes everything, Kyouya-senpai." Just then, he realized that she called him "Kyouya" and not "Ootori."

"Kyouya, I love you too!"

"That's nice…" He muttered. Whoa. Hold the phone! Did she just say what he thought she said? She did! She did! He stood. "Say it again."

"I love you, too?"

"Again."

She laughed. "I love you."

As he stared into the blurred outline of her face, he shakily asked, "So does this mean I can call you Haruhi? No honorifics?"

"Of course."

He kissed her. She stiffened. He kissed her harder, and opened his eyes to watch her relax and melt into his arms. It was all so clear to him, now. Why she had rejected his request, why she said some of the things she said to him. She loved him. When she pulled away, he saw her smile.

For once in his life, he saw clearly, and it was wonderful.

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**A/N:** A really crappy end to it, but hey, I'm pressed for time. I really need to update PAV and SOTP, but I'm far too lazy. Oh well, summer's coming soon, and I won't have anything to do, so don't give up on those stories just yet.


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